Lapid: Opposition will not cooperate with government’s Oct. 7 ‘cover-up committee’

The opposition will not play ball with the coalition’sdesired alternative to a state commission of inquiry into the failures of October 7, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid declares, after Likud MK Ariel Kallner presents his proposed bill to establish a so-called “national state investigation committee.”

“I am announcing in advance that the opposition will not cooperate with the coalition’s proposal to establish a cover-up committee for October 7,” Lapid says in a statement shortly after Kallner unveiled the latest version of his plan.

Kallner’s bill also drew condemnations from Avidgor Liberman’s hawkish Yisrael Beytenu party, which said it would “not allow the October 7 prime minister to establish a whitewashing committee” and claimed that Liberman has “conclusive evidence that Netanyahu was warned about the attack” that he will only present to a state commission of inquiry.

The Democrats MK Gilad Kariv argues that Kallner’s proposal was a “spit in the face” of the bereaved families and would be a “political circus.” Kariv called on all opposition party leaders to announce that “none of the opposition factions will cooperate with [this] despicable move.”

The plan, an earlier version of which was floated by Kallner in February, calls for 80 out of 120 MKs to appoint a six-member committee and its chairman. If there is no agreement after two weeks, both the opposition and coalition will be allowed to select three committee members apiece, who will be joined by four supervisory members who represent the bereaved families.

The proposal states that if either the coalition or opposition does not cooperate in the process or cannot settle on a candidate, the Knesset speaker will choose instead, giving the coalition effective control in the event of an opposition boycott.

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett describes the bill as “a knife in the back of the bereaved families and the entire people of Israel,” stating that the bill boils down to one thing: “Those being investigated appoint the investigators.”

“The leadership will not escape its responsibility for over a decade of lost deterrence, the transfer of cash suitcases to Hamas, and the building of terror monsters on our borders,” he says.

He says things will different after elections, assuming he wins: “In the first meeting of our government, we will cancel this political committee and establish a state investigative committee according to the law.”